I received this e-mail message (plus a lot of other info about paramilitary groups if anyone is interested) from a news service. Like others on this list, I am concerned about the rise of intolerance and hate in this country which fosters the growth of extremist groups like the various militia, as well as the terrorist anti-abortion groups. The provocative note below raises these issues in a forceful way. Marianne [EMAIL PROTECTED] (The opening quote is from a pro-militia organization: ) "At no time in our history since the colonies declared their independence from the long train of abuses of King George has our country needed a network of active militias across America to protect us from the monster we have allowed our federal government to become. Long live the Militia! Long live freedom! Long live government that fear [sic] the people! " SMOKE ON THE HORIZON Such incendiary rhetoric, commonplace in the Patriot/Militia movement, makes an armed confrontation between the government and militia members seem increasingly likely. If past behavior is any guide, federal law enforcement agencies are all too ready to fight fire with fire. Obviously, militias do not pose a military threat to the federal government. But they do threaten democracy. Armed militias fueled by paranoid conspiracy theories could make the democratic process unworkable, and in some rural areas of the West, it is already under siege. As ominously, the militias represent a smoldering right-wing populism -- with real and imagined grievances stoked by a politics of resentment and scapegoating -- just a demagogue away from kindling an American fascist movement. The militia movement now is like a brush fire on a hot summer day, atop a high and dry mountain ridge on the Idaho panhandle. As anyone in the panhandle can tell you, those brush fires have a way of getting out of control. (Some "angry white males" not among the privileged of our society) are starting to see the world as those not privileged by gender andrace have long seen it....; no wonder they arenot smiling. And even as they look out on it, the paths leading up tothe American dream are being constricted or closed off. These angry white guys fear their future will be: Flip burgers or die.
